1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to communication equipment.
2. Description of the Art
Data and/or voice communication frequently employ an enclosure or cabinet mounted at a convenient location in a facility, such as a manufacturing plant, to provide interconnection between copper conductors and fiberoptic conductors.
FIGS. 1 and 2 depict a prior art communication cabinet which provides interconnections between copper conductors and fiberoptic conductors. The cabinet 10 is a typical NEMA enclosure formed of a back wall 12, side walls 14, 16, 18 and 20, a front wall 22 in the form of a narrow flange surrounding an opening 24 to the interior of the cabinet 10, and a door 26 pivotally connected along the one side edge of the front wall 22. A back plate 28 is mounted on the back wall 12 and provided a mounting surface for various components.
A plurality of fiberoptic connectors 30, such as conventional SC or ST type fiberoptic connectors, are mounted on the side walls 16 with a jack portion 32 of each connector 30 projecting outwardly from the side wall 16 for receiving a plug termination at one end of a fiberoptic cable, not shown. As is conventional, a typical fiberoptic cable includes 12 individual fiberoptic conductors contained within a thick outer sheath. The sheath is cut back a considerable distance from the end to enable each individual fiberoptic conductors to be attached to a plug for connection to the respective jacks 32 on the side wall 16. This exposes a portion of the thinner, flexible fiberoptic conductors which made the conductors prone to damage or breakage when hit by external objects. In addition, the external mounting of the jack and fiberoptic conductor plug termination do not provide any strain relief thereby increasing the possibility of the fiberoptic conductors breaking free of the respective jacks if subjected to an external force.
A plurality of copper connectors 38 were also mounted on the cabinet 10, generally on the side wall 14. The copper conductor connectors 38 were of typical construction, such as a RJ45 jack. Finally, a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) 40 are mounted on the side wall 14 to provide an indication of the operative state of certain components within the cabinet 10.
A 48 VDC power receptacle 42 is mounted on the side wall 16 for receiving a plug connected to a 48 volt DC power supply. Internal conductors connect the receptacle 42 to a pair of power supplies 44 mounted on the back plate 28. The power supplies 44 provide regulated 24 VDC and 12 VDC power to circuit breakers connected to copper/fiberoptic converters and a radio, as described hereafter.
The circuit breakers 46 are mounted in a housing 48 on the back plate 28 and individually connected to the 24 VDC and 12 VDC power supplies and to each copper/fiberoptic converter and the radio by individual wires extending from each circuit breaker 46 through terminals 50 to the power connections of each converter 52 and the radio.
Individual conductors are wired from each fiberoptic connector 30 and each copper connector 38 to the respective copper conductor and fiberoptic conductor connections on each converter 52. In addition, individual conductors are wired from each indicator or LED 40 to each component whose status was to be monitored, such as each circuit breaker 46, each converter 52, each power supply 44; etc.
As is evident from FIG. 1, the communications cabinet 10 requires a considerable amount of individual wiring and terminations to connect the circuit breakers 46 and the LEDs 40 to each component within the cabinet as well as to connect the power supplies 44 to the circuit breakers 46. This amount of wiring not only increased the manufacturing costs due to the considerable length of time required to initially construct and wire the cabinet 10, but the conductors are prone to faults which require a considerable amount of trouble shooting time to locate and correct. In addition, the converters 52 are individually hard wired to the circuit breakers 46 via the terminals 50. All of these problems were in addition to the problems are described above with respect to the external mounting of the individual copper and fiberoptic conductors to the respective copper and fiberoptic connectors.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a communications cabinet or enclosure which overcomes the problems of previously devised, communications enclosures. It would be desirable to provide a communications enclosure which has a considerable amount of pre-wiring connections provided in a printed circuit board as well as providing plug-in connections between the power converters and the circuit board to minimize the amount of individual wires and assembly time required to construct the communications cabinet.
The present invention is a communications cabinet which provides connections between fiberoptic conductors, copper conductors, and copper/fiber converters.
According to one aspect of the invention, the communications cabinet includes a housing having walls. A plurality of copper/fiberoptic converters are mounted in the housing. Sealable access means are also mounted in the housing for sealingly enclosing the passage of fiberoptic and copper conductors through at least one wall of the housing. In this aspect, each of the sealable access means includes a pair of resilient members, each mounted on a bracket and facing the opposed resilient member. The resilient members and brackets are movable relative to each other between a first spaced apart position allowing passage of an electrical conductor through an adjacent aperture in the housing wall into the interior of the housing, and a second closed position wherein the resilient members sealingly encompass substantially the entire peripheral surface of the conductor extending therethrough.
A clip may be mountable over the brackets when the brackets and the resilient members are in the second closed position to forcibly retain the brackets and the resilient members in the closed position. According to this aspect of the invention, the clip comprises a pair of clips attachable to spaced portions of the brackets. In another aspect, the clip is in the form of an elongated, single member extending over a substantial portion of each bracket pair. An aperture is formed in the elongated clip allowing a conductor extending through the aperture in the housing and the resilient members to pass through the clip. In this embodiment, the clip provides strain relief to the conductor.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the fiberoptic and copper conductors, each have an end disposed in the housing terminating in a first electrical connector. A plurality of conductors extend from the copper/fiber converters, each terminating in a second connector. A plurality of third connectors are mounted in the housing for interconnecting one first connector and one second connector. Preferably, the third connectors are arranged in a plurality of groups in the housing, one group exclusively receiving the connectors on the copper conductors and one group exclusively receiving the connectors on the fiberoptic conductors. According to another unique aspect of the invention, a barrier is mounted within the housing dividing the housing into two separate compartments. The third connectors are preferably mounted on the barrier.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a printed circuit board is mounted in the housing and carries conductive traces. The conductive traces complete an electrical circuit between input power connections and each converter. Preferably, connectors are carried on the printed circuit board each in electrical connection with one conductive trace and receive one converter in a snap-in connection. According to this aspect of the invention, an aperture is formed in the printed circuit board having opposed side edges. The connectors are mounted on one side edge of the printed circuit board and receive one end portion of one converter therein.
The power connection means preferably comprises at least one power supply and a plurality of circuit breakers mounted in the housing and electrically coupled to the traces on the printed circuit board. One circuit breaker connector is connected by one conductive trace on the printed circuit board to one power conductor. Another circuit breaker is connected between the at least one power supply and one conductive trace on the printed circuit board.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the at least one power supply is mounted on the printed circuit board which is fixedly supported in the housing. A heat sink is coupled to the one power supply and is disposed in heat transfer communication with one wall of the housing.
In another aspect of the invention, an auxiliary housing is provided with a rack support bracket for receiving a rack mountable electrical device. According to this aspect, the auxiliary housing is fixedly joined to the main housing and has an aperture disposed in communication with at least one aperture in one wall of the main housing for the passage of electrical conductors between the main housing and the auxiliary housing.
Also according to this aspect, a DC to AC converter circuit is mounted in the auxiliary housing. A conductor passes from the main housing to the auxiliary housing for connecting DC input power to the DC to AC converter. An output of the converter providing AC power in the auxiliary housing and may optionally be connected to a convention outlet mounted in the auxiliary housing.
According to another aspect of the invention, a barrier is mounted within the housing and divides the housing into two separate compartments. Separate doors are pivotally mounted on the housing to provide separate access to the compartments within the housing.
The communications cabinet of the present invention provides many advantages over previously devised communication cabinets providing interconnections between copper conductors, fiberoptic conductors and copper/fiber converters. According to one unique aspect of the invention, a printed circuit board carrying conductive traces provides prewired connections between plug-in circuit breakers, plug-in converters and electrical conductors passing through apertures in the housing. This eliminates a substantial portion of the separate wires previously employed in similar communication cabinets between the circuit breakers, converters and external conductors.
Further, the unique sealable access means provides a sealed entrance of electrical conductors or cables through apertures in the housing while at the same time enabling the connectors at the end of the cable or conductors to be completely disposed within the housing thereby protecting the connectors from external damage as frequently occurs with previously devices communication cabinets having the cable and conductor terminating connectors mounted on the exterior of the housing.
The provision of the add-on auxiliary housing also provides unique advantages insofar as enabling rack mounted devices, such as hubs, routers or data switches to be coupled to the power conductors in the main housing. A DC to AC inverter mounted in the housing or auxiliary housing enables 110/120 VAC power to be provided in the auxiliary housing for the rack mounted devices without requiring a separate 110/120 volt AC input conductor having to be run to the communications cabinet.